Early actinide organonitrile compounds and their reactivity.

The actinide trihalides are an important class of materials . Anhydrous AnX3 compounds have been prepared via high temperature synthetic techniques, but they exis t as polymeric solids, which are insoluble in organic solvents . 1-3 Transuranic complexe s AnI3(THF)X have been prepared by the reaction of metals with CZH4IZ in THF solution s (An = Pu, x = 5; An = Np, x = 4) 4 and can be viewed as a net oxidation of An metal wit h 1 .5 equivalents molecular iodine. A convenient preparation of organic solvent soluble trivalent actinide compounds has been described where 1 .5 equivalents of IZ are added t o actinide (An) metal turnings (An = Pu, U, Np) suspended in aprotic organic coordinatin g solvent. 5,6 Since virtually all nonaqueous An(III) complexes have been prepared throug h the triodide-tetrahydrofuran complex, we are interested in preparing complexes wit h solvents other than tetrahydrofuran . And, since uranium is often used as a surrogate for studying the chemistry of transuranic actinides, we are seeking to elucidate the chemical differences between the transuranic elements and uranium .